The cultural sites of Scheyville reflect many major themes in Australia's development since European settlement. Beginning in 1804, the area was set aside as a public common for the people of the district. The Pitt Town Cooperative Labour Settlement was established in 1893, followed by a Casual Labour Farm where unemployed men could live while finding other work.

William Frances Schey, MP for Redfern and Darlington, helped this tradition of experimental farming continue in the form of the Government Agricultural Training Farm. The training scheme was a program to promote and assist the migration of British Youths willing to become farm workers.

After the outbreak of World War II the training farm was taken over the Commonwealth with the 73rd Australian Anti Aircraft Search Light Company and the RAAF 244 1ST Parachute Battalion being stationed there. During the post war immigration wave of the 1950s the lands and buildings at Scheyville became the starting point for thousands of immigrants seeking a new life in Australia.

From 1965 to 1973 Scheyville became the home of the Officer Training Unit. An intense six-month course designed to turn out officers capable of leading a platoon in Vietnam was offered to National Servicemen. After years of neglect and many development proposals for the land, Scheyville was finally gazetted as a national park in early 1996.[1]

In 1802 an area of approximately 5,650 acres (22.9 km2) was set aside as a grazing common for the local settlers. This area originally called the Nelson Common finally became known as the Pitt Town Common. By 1889 the Common had increased to 9,000 acres (36 km2) in size, and extended from Maraylya to South Windsor. In 1893 the government resumed 3,000 acres (12 km2) of the Pitt Town Common in order to establish an experimental agricultural settlement. The area now known as Scheyville was included in the land resumed by the government.

The aim of the settlement was to ease the high levels of unemployment experienced during the depression of the 1890s. Settlers were selected from the ranks of the unemployed and consisted of carpenters, gardeners, wharf hands, storekeepers and seamen, and their families. Run according to Socialist principles and highly controversial at the time, the Pitt Town Village Settlement and similar settlements in Bega and Wilberforce are seen today as a significant step toward unionism and the labour movement in Australia.[citation needed]

In 1895 William Schey, MP, initiated the establishment of a different type of government funded farm on the site of the Pitt Town Village Settlement. The farm was used as a short-term refuge and workplace for men who were victims of unemployment and sickness, until they were in better health or found work in the city. The men were not permitted to stay longer than about four months, during which time they were paid a small wage for the work they carried out on the farm.

Dramatic improvements were made to the farm between 1896 and 1905: buildings and fences were repaired; a silo was built; a dairy and piggery were in operation and the farm was self-supporting. Between 1905 and 1910 the farm became more of an agricultural training facility, and city boys who had been trained at the farm quickly found work on the land. In recognition of William Schey and his contribution to social welfare the area occupied by the labour settlement was renamed as Scheyville.[2]

The Dreadnought Scheme was a program designed to promote and assist the migration of British youths willing to become farm workers in Australia. Funds which had been raised by public subscription for the purchase of a battleship were diverted to establish the Dreadnought Scheme when the Commonwealth instead decided to build an Australian Navy.

On arrival in Australia, the teenage boys were assigned to a state government farm for three months of agricultural training. More than half of the boys who participated in the scheme were sent to the Scheyville Farm. Here the boys learnt skills such as shearing, horse riding, cropping, dairying, butchering and farm equipment maintenance. On completion of the training period the boys could be sent to work on any farm in the state. Most of the Dreadnought graduates were employed on dairy farms in the Northern Rivers area.

The scheme was put on hold during World War I. During the war the farm was used briefly for the detainment of 87 German citizens who had been taken from boats moored in Sydney Harbour. Later, the farm was used to train Australian women in agricultural skills while men were at war.

The scheme resumed in 1921 but in 1930 was again stopped, this time as a result of the Great Depression. By this time 4,500 British boys had been trained at Scheyville. During the Depression the Scheyville Farm took about 500 Australian city boys annually and gave them four months of training in basic farming practices. The boys were found suitable positions on farms on completion of their training. The Scheyville Training Farm era ended in 1940 when the farm was taken over by the Commonwealth for use as a military school during World War II.[2][3]

In October 1940, the Commonwealth Government requisitioned Scheyville Farm. A military school for artillery and anti-tank warfare was set up on the farm. On 15 September 1942, the 73rd Anti-Aircraft Searchlight (AASL) Company was formed and was based at Scheyville, until relocating to Brisbane on 6 November 1942. The 1st Parachute Battalion (Australia) occupied the farm from late 1943 until late 1944.

In 1965, the Scheyville complex was again taken over by the military for Army training. On this occasion Scheyville was used as an Officer Training Unit (OTU) for National Servicemen. Scheyville was the only unit in the country that offered this concentrated six-month course. The training provided at OTU Scheyville was specifically designed to turn out officers capable of leading a platoon in Vietnam. OTU training was intense with 10- to 14-hour days and 6 day 'working weeks' being ‘the norm’. Much study was involved and tough physical training was also part of OTU life. Many of the officers who trained through this unit served in Vietnam.

Many OTU graduates went on to become leaders in their own fields following Army life, citing the training they received at Scheyville as having contributed to their success. Some of the officers decided to pursue careers in the Regular Army after National Service.

Direct entry aviation cadets were also trained at Scheyville, in the same 6 month courses as the National Servicemen. There were three 12 month Officer Cadet School (OCS) Portsea courses at Scheyville in 1972 and 1973. The first six months of these courses was the same as that for National Servicemen and the latter six months concentrating on subjects more suited to careers with the Regular Army. The Officer Training Unit continued to function until 1973 (the last intake was October 1972 to March 1973), after the Australian Labor Party abolished further National Service in December 1972. However a small number of the Regular Army officer cadets were still training there until December 1973 before travelling to OCS Portsea to graduate. The Hawkesbury Agricultural College opened a campus at Scheyville in 1978 but did not renew their five-year lease on its expiry.